Sandy Neck Cultural Resources District is a
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from ce ...
in
Barnstable, Massachusetts
The Town of Barnstable ( ) is a town in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the county seat of Barnstable County. Barnstable is the largest community, both in land area and population, on Cape Cod, and is one of thirteen Massachusetts municipalit ...
. Sandy Neck is a long spit of land extending east–west on the northern shore of the lower portion of
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mon ...
, sheltering
Barnstable Harbor
Barnstable Harbor is a natural harbor located in Barnstable, Massachusetts
The Town of Barnstable ( ) is a town in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the county seat of Barnstable County. Barnstable is the largest community, both in land area ...
. This area has a fairly lengthy history of human occupation, including archaeological prehistoric and colonial historic resources. Archaeological research in the 1960s identified
shell midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ec ...
s dating from the pre-contact
Woodland Period
In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeo ...
.
The district was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...
in 1987.
See also
*
References
Historic districts in Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Barnstable, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Barnstable, Massachusetts
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
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